The USDA likely underestimated the number of soybean acres to be planted this spring in its planting intentions report released on Friday.
That's according to Brian Voth, a southern Manitoba market coach with Agri-Trend Marketing.
"The soybean acres came out quite a bit lower than what the average trade estimate was," he explains. "We think these numbers are actually going to be quite different in the end than what they show right now."
The USDA report projects just under 74 million acres of soybeans, which is down 1.4 percent from last year and about 1.5 million acres lower than trade expectations prior to the report. The estimates are based on a survey of American farmers during the first two weeks of March.
Voth says soybean prices have risen relative to corn over the last few weeks.
"If you look back in January or February, the price ratio of new crop soybeans to new crop corn was about 2.1 to 1," explains Voth. "Through the months of February and March soybeans have really rallied, significantly more than corn, to the point where the ratio now is up around 2.5 to 1."
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